Delicate, airy cookies that literally melt in the mouth, made from carefully toasted tapioca flour and rich coconut cream. A must-have Chinese New Year treat of the Singapore Peranakan festive table.
Kueh bangkit is a defining Peranakan festive cookie of the Singapore Chinese New Year table. The cookies are made from tapioca or sago flour that is dry-toasted with pandan until it loses all moisture, bound with rich coconut cream and egg yolks, then stamped into traditional wooden molds and baked. The melt-in-the-mouth texture is a Nyonya housewife skill passed through Singapore families, and a well-made kueh bangkit dissolves instantly on the tongue.
Pale, light, intricately moulded and almost powdery, dissolving instantly on the tongue to a sweet, coconutty, faintly vanilla finish. Eaten at the New Year table, they are delicate, melt-in-the-mouth and the test of a Nyonya cook.
The tapioca flour must be dry-toasted with pandan leaves for an hour or more to drive off every trace of moisture, which is the secret to the melt-in-the-mouth texture; untoasted flour makes a tough cookie. The toasted flour is mixed with hot coconut cream, egg yolks and sugar to a dough, pressed into intricately carved wooden molds, knocked out, and baked briefly. The toasting and the coconut cream ratio are the two critical variables.
Variations
A pandan version adds pandan juice for aroma. Some use sago flour instead of tapioca.
On the Palate
Where Kueh Bangkit Singapore sits in the Singaporean flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 24How it's made
6 steps · 1 hour
- 120 min
Dry-toast 300g tapioca flour with 3 pandan leaves in a wok over low heat, stirring constantly, for 1 hour until lightly coloured and fully dry; cool, sift.
Watch outDry-toast the tapioca flour a full hour until bone-dry — driving off every trace of moisture is the secret to the melt-in-mouth crumb; under-toasted flour bakes tough.
- 28 min
Heat 200ml thick coconut cream with 150g sugar and a pinch of salt until the sugar dissolves; cool slightly.
- 38 min
Beat 3 egg yolks; combine with the coconut mixture, then work in the toasted flour to a soft, pliable dough.
- 412 min
Press small portions into carved wooden kueh bangkit molds; knock out onto a tray.
- 512 min
Bake at 150C for 18-20 minutes until just set and pale; do not brown.
Watch outBake just until set and still pale — do not let them brown; kueh bangkit should stay white and firm up as they cool, and colour means overbaked.
- 64 min
Cool completely on the tray (they firm up as they cool) and store airtight.
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